Originally Posted by
cale
Picked up a nice digital caliper yesterday for $11 + tax. That's a coupon deal I received by mail but check the HF site if interested. Oh, sale ends today but there's always a sale and they've the 20% off any single purchase coupons on a regular basis.
6 in. Digital Caliper
For some reason the garage has Snap-On utility pick set that I like better than the Park offering, I've got a Pedro's Double Rock Stand that I like better than the Park professional shop stands, and I use a quality Precision Instruments dial type torque wrench that doesn't lose its accuracy from not being "dialed down" and is accurate throughout the whole range unlike a Park, Pedro's, or Effeto Mariposa click style. So I like using good tools, not just good enough.
That being said I do use the Harbor Freight 6" digital caliper. I probably use that tool in my bike shop more than ANY other single tool. Always working on tandems and the strange spacing and lack of a standard (160mm Santana, 145 Co-Motion and modern C'dales, 140 older C'dales, and 135mm some cheap steel Burley/Trek/etc tandems).
That same caliper is rebranded as Harbor Freight and can be had for as cheap as $12.99 with coupons, but it also sold in other venues branded as a Hornady Digital Caliper for shootists at Sportsman's Warehouse for $27.99:
Hornady Digital Caliper | Sportsman's Warehouse
I prefer Pedro's tools to Park typically, and really love Abbey bicycle tools. I'd buy an analog vernier caliper if Abbey ever made one, just because their stuff is gorgeous. I'd buy a Pedro's digital caliper if they ever made one, which they won't. Eventually I'll buy a Park, but I've never had a need. My cheapo HF tool works perfectly. The only precaution I take is I have to remove the battery from it after every use or it will die. Its stupid how cheaply HF sells the tool. Most HF stuff is just garbage but there are a handful of tools I have from HF that I put alongside anything else I have, believe it or not. They are accurate to about .005" which is beyond any tolerance needed for wrenching, even frame building, and are accurate enough that the user error in placement is more significant than their native accuracy.